Much was said but little was done: European defence cooperation is not at the level it should be. Over 80% of national procurement is run on a national basis, dramatically impacting the European ability to act together.

With its Action Plan on European Defence adopted on 30th November 2016, the Commission has deployed a set of incentives that have the potential to re‐boost European defence cooperation.

It is now up to Member States to act upon the European Union’s (EU) incentives, bearing in mind the rapidly changing environment and the need to build a genuinely European strategic autonomy.

Click here for the full report (9 PDF pages) on the IRIS-France website.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The only way to boost European defense cooperation in the field of equipment is to enact a “Buy European Act,” which alone would generate enough business to allow industry to consolidate and militaries to standardize.)